Filthy Smoker

Discussion (13) ¬

I have just spent the weekend reading this strip from beginning to current. I must say, I love it! It is stylized and inventive. PLEASE keep it up!
I wanna see what happens next! Especially with ‘Mother Dear’ there seeming to have a sinister side!

To explain: It’s getting so it gets in the way of the jokes – it’s like people who use exclamation marks at the end of every other sentence and end up having to use multiple exclamation marks when they REALLY want to emphasise a sentence!

I feel that you only have to emphasise speech in comics when the character is using a surprising emphasis. The reader can fill in all the predictable emphases for themselves.

Oh. Might want to ration your exclamation marks too.

I hope you don’t mind my request and criticism. I really enjoy this comic which is why I want it to be better!

Hey CF,
I’ve actually worried about this ever since I started the strip. Oh, brother! I think you are right, and today’s comic is especially guilty of my bold italic compulsion. I choose which words to embolden to point out the important parts of the gag, but a bit too much I think.
I remember how annoyed I used to get reading old Superman comics that would print the word “Superman” bold every time, in word balloons, narration, everywhere. Yuck!
I can’t promise anything… but let’s see if I can keep it controlled in the future. I’m such a creature of habit!
Thanks for the comment, and I’m really glad you enjoy the comic!

Dave: This comic is relevant on so many levels, and you need to be applauded for making it so. The point that I obtain from today’s strip is how the current generation thinks so poorly of the previous generations. In our arrogance, we miss the fact that our ancestors managed to identify and correct their shortcomings. We needn’t be so quick to criticize; when our descendants will consider that our greatest fault is that we were horribly intolerant. Where’s the BOLD italix when you need them?

Dave – Oh yes, I hated a few of the comics when I was growing up because of that. The UK-based ones I saw most of were OK (but dullllll), but the only American imports I saw overdid the emboldening – yet I loved the art and the writing!

I think something you need to remember is that your artwork and writing skills carry the jokes entirely on their own. This cartoon would work with completely flat text, because Meela’s expression and the words “filthy smoker” contrast so vividly with the expectations Cargo set up for us in the previous panel.